Polyurethanes have become one of the most dynamic groups of polymers and they find use in nearly every aspect of modern life, in applications such as furniture, bedding, seating and instrument panels for cars, shoe soles, thermoinsulation, carpet backings, packaging, and as coatings.

This book considers the raw materials used to build the polyurethane polymeric architecture. It covers the chemistry and technology of oligo-polyol fabrication, the characteristics of the various oligo-polyol families and the effects of the oligo-polyol structure on the properties of the resulting polyurethane. It presents the details of oligo-polyol synthesis, and explains the chemical and physico-chemical subtleties of oligo-polyol fabrication.

This book attempts to link data and information concerning the chemistry and technology of oligo-polyols for polyurethanes, providing a comprehensive overview of:

-Polyols from renewable resources -Chemical recovery of polyols -Relationships between polyol structure and polyurethane properties This book will be of interest to all specialists working with polyols for the manufacture of polyurethanes and to all researchers that would like to know more about polyol chemistry.

Mihail Ionescu gained his first degree from the University Polytechnica Bucharest, Faculty of Industrial Chemistry, and gained his PhD from the same institution in 1986.

He has had a varied career and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, USA. He was President of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Chemical Research (ICECHIM) in Bucharest, Romania from 1993-2004; the Scientific Director of ICECHIM from 1997-2004; Head of the Polymer Synthesis Department at ICECHIM from 1992-1997; Secretary of the Romanian Polymer Society from 1992; an active member of the New York Academy of Science (1996); and is a Member of American Chemical Society and American Oil Chemists Society.

Mihail has completed around 200 research projects - laboratory, pilot plant and industrial scale (unpublished in the open literature, closed circuit); has devised more than 20 technologies for polyether polyols which are applied industrially - the resulting polyethers (for flexible and rigid PU foams), are exported to: Germany, Italy, Turkey, France, The Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Serbia; has 70 patents in the field of telechelic polyether synthesis and in the field of aromatic polymers; and has authored around 85 scientific papers; he is thus well qualified to write this book.